SCOUSE Sheets continues but boss Klopp insists Reds have their.. IN ORDER
Bonanza sees champs ship three as lack of clean
JURGEN KLOPP has always shown an impressive grasp of the Anglo-Saxon profanity in his charming use of Scouse.
Yet there is only one obscene word for the Liverpool boss, one he forbids around his training ground and suggests will never surface “for as long as I breathe”. Complacency. So when it was gently suggested to him, after an opening-day bonanza, that his defence were perhaps just a tiny bit complacent against Premier League new boys Leeds, he... well, he bristled.
His eyes narrowed too. His face clinched in that look seasoned observers know suggests trouble.
“I didn’t really see us struggling defensively,” he said curtly when just about the rest of the footballing world did.
Then his impressive English kicked in, even if he mixed his sporting metaphors a little.
“Defending is not like riding a bike, you have to work on it constantly,” he said of a backline that has kept just three clean sheets in their last 17 matches.
“The last line played for England, Holland and Scotland four days ago. All top teams but all different ways of defending, so it can happen then.
“If all these things are not really settled... people say they’ve played 500 games together but there is space for improvement, especially with the way Leeds play – you cannot defend it 100 per cent all of the time.”
The subtle suggestion was his side didn’t underestimate United but rather were perfectly aware of their qualities – and weaknesses.
So they conceded goals when the away side, in thrilling fashion, committed five or even six players into the box ahead of the ball.
Jack Harrison turned Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez inside out for Leeds’ first leveller before Patrick Bamford pounced on slapdash defending from Virgil van Dijk – who had headed the Reds back in front – to lob Alisson.
Conversely, Liverpool created many chances when they won possession as Leeds – who equalised for a third time thanks to Mateusz Klich’s volley – found themselves on the wrong side of the ball. In fact, while 4-3 was a fair reflection of Leeds’ attitude, a couple more for the Reds would not have been flattering.
Klopp added: “I said before the game we will all struggle against them, 100 per cent, because the way they play is just uncomfortable, let me say it like this. It is different to all the other teams.
“If you don’t respect the opponent, the plan of the opponent – and we always do that – then they kill you in a football way.
“But I liked a lot the attitude of my team today, really. They just don’t stop and I like it. I really like it. But we didn’t stop either.
“With the ball we were a proper threat in a lot of moments. We wanted to be direct because we knew that caused them a problem.
“The game was exactly like it should have been, minus the three mistakes around the goals!”
The fact Liverpool’s winner – a second Mo Salah spot-kick and his third of the evening after a sweet half-volley – came two minutes from time was an echo of last season and the best sign they will not be complacent.
Salah had the look of a svelte Maradona in some of his gliding runs with his left-foot magic.
Yet he worked hard in defence too, as did Sadio Mane, and that is the key to success. Superstars prepared to do the graft too.